V 2011 A new story using the same characters from my story Beginnings
by BrenMichelle
Summary: Christien Matcliff (OC from my story Beginnings) finds herself once more fighting for the survival of Earth. A new alien threat has come to our planet and though they have convinced most people they were friendly and not the same as the last aliens, Criss is unsure of them and after an encounter with their leader Anna. She finds her worries are valid.


Criss pushed her hands deeper into the pockets of her jeans and hunched her shoulders. The skyline of New York past her unnoticed; since she watched only her feet slapping against the gray pavement refusing to look up at the sky or at the hovering oval alien ship that had appeared almost six months earlier. Why hadn't the government sent this new visiting alien away? Hadn't they learned fifteen years earlier that aliens coming 'in peace' are not actually a gift nor are they the deity that they claim to be? It had taken her most of that past fifteen years to get over the nightmares, and to recover from just the physical damage that the previous Visitors had inflicted on her body. And now in the short span of six months the nightmares were back.

Her precious ties to the government were slipping away; she'd had no desire to be in politics and had very little desire to run even the company left to her by her father. Because of that she lost her power to have any say in how the United States had reacted to this new alien threat. This new alien claimed they were responding to the beacon that had been sent over twenty years ago when the original Visitor war had started, and no one had bothered to shut it off when the war ended. The beacon that Juliet Parrish herself had sent in hopes of attracting an alien enemy to the then current Visitor threat in hopes of getting aid in attaining the Earth's freedom. The new aliens had proved they were not the same creatures as their predecessors, they even had red blood.

It didn't matter. Criss had argued with anyone who would listen. Reminding them of the fighting, of the red dust and of the tragic loss of life. The hundreds of thousands of people who had been taken on the mother ships and then never returned. In the span of only a few months Matcliff stock had begun to decline. The sister corporations began to see a dramatic loss as well. In hopes of maintaining the corporation Matthew was in Europe and Ryan was in Japan both working with shareholders. Matthew had sent Criss to New York. To make peace with the new V's as they had been named. It seemed all the sins of past aliens had been forgotten. The dead of the past buried.

Except Criss couldn't let it go. The V's leader, Anna, she just looked and sounded too much like John the false leader of the original Visitors; the one who had promised everything and delivered nothing twenty years earlier. The only problem was Anna had delivered. Cures for cancer, blue energy, even the red rain that scientists were saying had healed the growing hole in the ozone.

"Damn it." She hissed through her teeth glancing up and realizing she had walked passed her hotel without even noticing. She looked at her watch. The meeting with the board and the V's was in less then an hour. She turned to look at her reflection in the glass windows of the building lining the street.

The softness of youth had been stripped by years, but she could still see herself in the brown eyes staring back. She no longer carried a gun in the waistband of her jeans but still carried strength in her shoulders and the straightness of her walk, she would not cower to this new alien threat, nor would she worry about appearing before her own board in jeans. She straightened the collar of her shirt, pulled a lip gloss out of her back pocket and then turned from her reflection to hail a cab, might as well get this damn apology over with. At least then she could go back to the hotel and pretend that she was home in L.A. and not stuck in this God forsaken town that she hated.

"We want your company to produce the blue energy." Marcus smiled. He was dressed in a suit that was far too nicely tailored to have been purchased from the hanger and sat with such strait posture that she was afraid he might start to bow backwards.

Criss looked away from the view of New York and turned to stare at him. "What was your name again?" She asked.

"Marcus."

"I knew a Marcus once." She turned back to the picturesque view of the sky scrapers; trying not to place the image of the Visitor Marcus that beat and tortured her over the face of the alien that now sat alone with her in the executive office of the New York Matcliff Corporation. "New York is really beautiful in the twilight don't you think Marcus?"

She felt him step up beside her, and forced herself not to stiffen. "I do believe the city is very attractive, though I prefer the more natural settings of the forest."

"mmm." Criss let out a sigh. "Marcus, I asked to speak with you alone to reassure myself that you are indeed not the same creatures that invaded my planet twenty odd years ago. Can you assure me of this?"

"We gave blood samples to your doctors and scientists. Submitted tissue and DNA is this not the assurance that you seek?" He asked; watching her walk away from him. She glanced briefly at him and smiled.

"Well let me put it to you this way. I tell the government that I don't like you and my company starts to fail." She shrugged. "Now conveniently you want me to make your blue energy. I don't like games Marcus. I am a bad looser." Criss stopped at the huge meeting table in the center of the room and filled two glasses with water and turned and offered one to him. "I was told by both of my vice presidents that I was to make peace with you. That the face of Matcliff Corp. needed to find peace with the past and face the future with a smile." She held the glass further out smiled and waited. "What will the V's do if I say I don't want to make the blue energy?"

Marcus stepped up and took the glass from her. "We will ask another corporation." He took a drink of the water.

Criss followed suit finishing her glass and watching as he did the same. Criss smiled. "When the visitors landed, I was fourteen, a gymnast worried only about making the Olympic team and getting a boy to kiss me. Within four years I had been shot and beaten and had trained myself to kill. The visitors had a plan for our world. They craved our water, our people. In order to save it, to save ourselves we poisoned it." She set the glass on the table and pulled a pink tinged plastic bag out of her pocket and dropped it on the table next to the pitcher. "I know it seems odd that after fifteen years I would still carry some of the original live bacteria of the red dust." She shrugged. "But I just can't shake the feeling that they are coming back."

"The bag is empty." Marcus noted, staring at the bag on the table.

"And either you are immune or you are what you say. Either way I am supposed to make peace. Matcliff Corporation has had agreements in the past with alien beings. I will allow the scientists in New York to work with your people in an open lab that is available for public tours, to create this blue energy. The open lab will be accessible for tours at anytime I expect that this will create a great wonder for our kind, since you are "of peace always"?" Criss waited for him to respond. His eyes were locked on the empty red tinted baggy laying on the table. "Marcus? Did you hear me? I am saying yes that Matcliff corp. will make blue energy we just need to make some PR arrangements. Should I call the board back in."

"Did you just try to kill me?"

"No." Criss shrugged. "Well if you'd been a visitor you would probably have choked to death and then I would have had to figure out how to explain that but I was trying to stop my nightmares." She poured herself another glass of water. "Shall I call in the board?"

"Uh," He stumbled for a moment. "Yes. Let us arrange the business."

Criss leaned back in the tub. One thing about being rich was the cool hotel suites. Her phone buzzed and almost slipped into the soapy water. She picked it up and smiled, Ryan's smiling face looking back at her. "Hey baby." She said after hitting send.

Ryan's voice boomed through the phone and Criss pushed herself up in the tub rolling her eyes. "Come on I did make nice." She said after letting him rant for a moment. "How is Japan? Are you laying in a bubble bath naked like I am?" She teased. His angry toned filtered through again. "Look you can be pissed at me all you want. He took the glass and he drank it. I didn't force it down his throat after I beat him up or anything. No, I don't really have any red dust bacteria. The baggy had some Kool-Aid powder in it. If he had sniffed it, it would have smelled like cherry. I was just trying to see if he would freak." She listened to Ryan talk for a few minutes. "Ryan there is enough money in our accounts to keep us floating for the rest of our lives and then to keep anyone we want to float for all of theirs. We can't have kids… if you are that worried about business." She started to say when the call went dead. "What the heck?" She looked at the phone. "He hung up on me." She pulled back and flung the phone across the room. It hit the wall and then fell to the floor breaking into pieces.

She drained the tub, no longer interested in relaxing or in the glass of wine. It took a few moments to dry and dress and reapply make-up, but in a city like New York she knew that she would be sure to find some kind of activity. She called the front desk ordered a limo and finished dressing, shortly after eleven she left the hotel dressed to kill and ready for a fight.

"What do you mean she isn't there?" Matthew asked into the phone.

Ryan looked around the hotel room. Clothes were scattered in a normal Christien fashion, make-up on the bathroom counter, and pieces of her cell phone lying next to a broken wine glass on the tile floor. "I mean the hotel manager said she called for a car two nights ago and did not come back."

"She has gone missing before Ryan."

"Matthew, I have a bad feeling about this and you know she hasn't gone missing in over fifteen years so that doesn't really count now does it." Ryan dropped down on the bed. "She hung up on me the last time we spoke. I scolded her for the trick she played on that V guy. I treated her like a child. In the last two days our stock has doubled from where it started originally. I can't believe I even doubted her."

"What are you saying Ryan?"

"I don't know what I am saying Matthew. It's been years since I have had to worry about some one hurting my Criss. I. I can't. Lose. Her." Ryan dropped his head in his hand.

"I'm calling the FBI, and I am on the jet in an hour. Stay where you are and for God's sake don't touch anything."

Criss woke her head pounding, the bed unfamiliar. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. A familiar hum penetrated through the hangover and she sat up in the bed, her breath catching in her throat, escaping in a hiss.

"Good you're awake." The female voice was so familiar and odd at the same time, she whipped around searching for the source and found Anna smiling at her. "You are lucky we found you."

"Where am I?" Criss asked, knowing the answer but needing to hear the answer anyway.

"You are on my ship."

"Why did you bring me here?" Criss forced her breathing to steady, the claustrophobia and fear threatening to rise within her. She met Anna's eyes and forced a calm expression reaching to finger comb her tangled blond hair and trying to feign confusion that might match the unusual scene she found herself in.

"We found you. You looked disoriented; we brought you here for your own safety." Anna smiled, stepping closer to the bed. "And it is lucky we did; it seems some one had slipped something into your drink." Anna dropped a plastic bag onto the bed. "I can't imagine why someone would ever slip a poison into someone's drink. That is horrible and can lead to disastrous consequences."

Criss stared at the empty baggy, understanding in that moment that if she had given Marcus true red dust, he would have died gasping in front of her, a hideous display. Her one chance of proof would be lost now. "I assume you have by now inoculated your entire crew to ensure that they could not be caught unaware by cherry Kool-Aid again?" Criss looked up at Anna into the beautiful but startling face; waiting for the next step in the dance, wondering if this partner would be as direct as the last.

Anna smiled, the expression left her eyes empty and her hawk-like features stretched. Criss felt more like a rabbit then a guest. "I have no idea what you might be talking about. I am very excited to hear that we will be working together." Anna held a hand out to Christien. "Christien, I should very much like to show you around my ship, would you join me?"

"Of course. I have not been on a ship for many years. The last one I was on was blown out of the sky." Criss refused to show her hesitation placing her own hand into Anna's and allowing the younger woman to help her stand. "So, you say it is blue energy that powers your ship?" Criss asked as the woman led her from the room releasing her hand after only a moment of contact.

Anna led the tour with the grace and control of an experienced guide. "Yes. Our engines are powered by blue energy. It is a challenging creation process but once your people have mastered it you will not have any problems with production." Anna smiled at her. "Marcus tells me that you want the plant to be open for tours. I think that is a splendid idea, humans can witness the creation of a safe energy source that will power everything from their cars to their MP3 players."

Criss tried to smile; she pulled a hair tie from the pocket of her jeans and pulled her wild curls out of her eyes and back into a ponytail. "I must look a fright. I hope I don't end up embarrassing myself looking so terrible." Criss looked curiously around. The ship was vastly different than before, bright and almost chrome in appearance. Looking less like the clean white hospital, but almost more frightening. "Is there a restroom where I can wash my face before you show me around? I would hate to be seen or photographed looking so out of sorts."

"Of course. I should have offered. This way." Anna led her to a hall way and stopped. "Right here. An elevator of sorts." She smiled at Criss, used the touch controls that seemed to float in the air and then floor felt as though it dropped from beneath them.

"That's some elevator." Criss cleared her throat. The bright hallway from above had been replaced with a dingy slime encrusted room. "This is a restroom?" She turned to Anna, who only smiled.

"Not exactly I have some one I want you to meet." Anna stepped into the room and Criss lingered waiting. The room smelled faintly familiar, an old smell she couldn't place and yet still haunted her. "Come I want you to meet my mother."

Criss stepped further into the room. "Your mo.." She stopped. Shaking her head. Her voice gone; the smell flooded back. The room on the visitor planet, the smell of dead vegetation and rotting flesh. She'd only been there a few days. Long enough for the Leader to have her punished. Punishment that had ultimately rendered her childless and broken. In her hope that Ryan would still want her she had managed to stay alive to make it back to earth, home. But the smell of the Visitor home planet, the stench of burnt leaves and bog all at once clung to her, she gasped almost bending in pain that seared across her stomach; every scar on her stomach and back began to burn she backed a step. "Yo..you are de.d. " She fought to get the words past the memory, a blinding pain flashed across the top of her head as the stutter long forgotten slipped out. The vision of red uniform and green blood dripping from the stage; then the screams, the fear. "I killed you." Diana stepped from the shadows into the small hallway. Looking almost exactly as she had twenty years earlier. Gone was red uniform and black boots, instead Diana wore what looked like a formal red gown. Satan herself.

"Christien dear you still stutter after all these years." Diana smiled. "How flattering."

"Well mother, Christien." Anna smiled. "I shall leave you two to speak."

"You can't." Criss looked from Anna to Dianna. "You can not leave me here." Criss turned to follow Anna but was a moment too slow; seeing only her smile and then the light of the elevator pulled her from the room, leaving her in the one nightmare she had fought for twenty years.

Diana stepped forward. Criss stepped back. This continued until Criss hit a wall. Her breath came in small gasps. "What kind of trick is this?" Criss asked finally, forcing herself to step away from the wall Diana had approached but had still kept several feet between them.

"No trick. I live. I have always lived. Yes, you shot me. But I was queen; you foolishly believed the leader gave the orders. I was queen. My race is ruled by the queen. My loyal servants saved me and put me onto my ship with my precious daughter and we left your planet for a time so I could heal. In that time, you dealt with the betraying Leader and his petty followers. For that I thank you." Diana shrugged as though the events had been merely a trifle in her life and not the first event that had changed the war completely.

"And then what? You snuck back here?" Criss asked, carefully searching the room for a weapon or a way to escape.

"Our planet was dying. Surly you noticed during your visit."

"I was a little busy being tried and punished for your murder during my visit." Criss shook her head and crossed her arms trying to hide the shaking in her hands. "Isn't this the part where you call in the guards and they start beating me? Or do I really have to listen to more of your evil plans?"

Diana laughed, and took another step back. "Touché."

"Don't you think the eight years of evil plans and beatings were enough? Did you really have to send your daughter to snatch me?" Criss asked finally gaining enough courage to step toward Diana.

"I didn't send her and as you can see, I do not rule anything any longer. I am only queen of this dying room." Diana swept her arms around the room; reflecting on the decay of the walls and the floor. The stunning red dress she wore stood out in stark red contrast from the dark dying room. "Anna is queen now."

"What are you saying?"

"For once you and I are on the same side."

Criss let out a bark of a laugh. "No. I don't think so." Criss shook her head.

"Ours is a dying race. Much like our planet died. Our only hope is to find a way to continue to reproduce." Diana turned and walked away. She made it all the way to the other side of the room and stood for a few moments staring at the wall.

"God you have gone crazy."

"Possibly," She agreed looking back over her shoulder. "But my daughter is going after the human soul and it is up to you to stop her."

"What?" Criss crumpled her face. "What is your game this time?"

"How many of your Fifth Column are left now Christien?"

"I heard about them on the news. Is that what you want? My old gang? Forget it." Criss shook her head. "I couldn't tell you even if I wanted."

"I don't want them but you may. The human soul is a treasure and should my daughter be able to wipe it out then all is lost." Diana walked back across the room and smiled at Criss, a smile Criss remembered. "I once wondered what it would be like to have an ally like you. Now I will find out."

"We are not allies." Criss shook her head. "One thing I have learned is that you offer nothing for free. There is always a price to pay."

The blue energy elevator reappeared with Anna. "I trust you had a nice visit?"

"You're as crazy as she is." Criss hissed.

Anna pointed what looked like a gun at Criss "Join me won't you?" Anna took Criss back up in the elevator and led her to a small empty room. "Did my mother tell you anything interesting?"

"Just that she's a queen. You are trying to steal souls and insanity runs in your gene pool." Criss looked around the room. It looked like an office but the wall was empty looking as if something should have been there. "What is this place?"

"I want to show you something." Anna ran her hand across the wall and a computer screen lit up. The screen ran the Wall Street listing for the day. "Our agreement was announced only a few minutes and by close of business your company had shown great improvement." She continued. "Though there is a huge drop today, seems you have been missing for two days now."

"Two days? You said you found me last night."

"I said we found you. I didn't say when." Anna swiped her hand again and a news story of her abduction appeared on the screen. The article showed the fifth column being blamed for the abduction, then a picture of Ryan and Matthew. Ryan's face was sunk in his eyes shadowed and full of sorrow and worry. The story told of the ransom note that was sent. That the FBI agent Erica Evans running the Fifth Column task force had been placed in charge of the investigation. Anna allowed the story to run a moment longer and then stopped it on a shot of Ryan. "He is a hansom man." She remarked.

Criss stared at the image in front of her. The man she had fought to live for; the man who had shared her life for the last twenty years. With a swipe of Anna's hand pictures of past newspaper clippings appeared. Everything from the year the visitors had been defeated. Her triumphant return to the man she loved right up until the day they married, even the horrible paparazzi stories of their infertility struggles. Then the stories and the horrible rumors of denied adoptions, agencies refusing to approve her because of health issues, or mental instability. Pictures of the couple as they faced the rumors and struggled through them until the gossip settled; the images of their lives in played in slow motion; scars shown in pictures instead of flesh. "Yes. Ryan is hansom." Criss responded finally. "What do you want?" She knew if Anna wanted her dead that would have happened already.

"I only want Matcliff Corporation to continue to be so successful and for its leaders to continue their storybook romance without violence or harassment. Isn't that what you want?" Anna looked at her expectantly.

"You are of peace." Criss whispered.

Anna smiled. "Always." Anna turned to walk away. "I am glad we understand each other. Your kidnappers will be here in a moment to make sure that our agreement is understood." Anna stopped at the door and looked back. She smiled again, glancing at the last article that still showed on the screen displaying the horrible truth that Ryan and Christien would continue remain childless. "I expect that you and I will have a long and fruitful relationship." Two men entered as she left dressed in dark clothing carrying what looked like night sticks.

"Oh shit." Criss backed against the wall. "I'm a little rusty guys. Couldn't she have sent in some of the older guards instead of two young ones like you?"

One smirked at her. "Don't worry it will be over before you know it." He stepped closer. The pointed heel of her boot caught him in his left eye and he screamed stumbling back.

"I said rusty not broken." She swung around, pulling her boot from the man even as she pulled him off his feet ducking to avoid the blow from the other. "You know that actually felt kinda good. It's been a while since I got to kick ass." The guard on the floor hissed and squirmed and she used his distraction to pull his head into her hands and crack his neck. The move only took seconds but long enough for the door to open and two others to step inside. One of the new men pointed the same weapon at her that Anna had used earlier. The stream of blue struck her in the back. The dead man slipped from her grip even as she felt a sting across her shoulders and burn of the electric shock course through her, freezing her mid-motion. That was all it took for the single guard left to descend, his stick striking down first on her face then her shoulder, she hit floor still quivering the electricity coursing painfully through her, his blows almost softened by the electricity. They let her twitch on the floor crying out and gasping for several moments her muscles jerking. When the flow of electricity finally stopped, she grunted as the air was forced out of her lungs the guard's stick slamming across her back. Several more times he struck her, sure to leave prominent bruises. She started to push herself onto her knees and he struck the side of her head flipping her onto her back and making the room spin. Her left eye and lip dripping blood and already swelling, she started to black out. She pulled her right arm up to block her face only to feel the stick crack against her wrist and then across her ribs. The last strike across her ribcage forced a scream from her and she rolled to her side and pulled her knees to her chest suddenly unsure of Anna's plan. Over and over the thin stick pelted her with blows bringing flashes of pain and memories of past pains. Then just as the visitor predicted, the beating was over. She faded in and out of consciousness for a while her head pulsing with each heart beat. She didn't feel or hear the doctor that scanned and assured Anna that her injuries were superficial. It seems like minutes but must have been hours before she could force open her eyes and it took her a moment to focus on the back of a woman's pair of stylish heels, and to remember where she was.

"He really is a hansom man." Anna said when she was sure Criss was fully awake. Anna turned and stooped carefully pulling a handful of Criss' hair turning her face to make sure she was looking at her. "Do you understand what I am telling you?"

"Yes." Criss forced through her swollen bleeding mouth.

Anna smiled. "Then we shall have a glorious partnership." She stood and stepped over Criss' body leaving the room. Criss watched Anna leave taking her hard-earned freedom and security with her.

They dumped her like trash. Broken, bleeding, embarrassed again. Criss pushed herself to her feet in the alley way and stumbled away from the pile of trash where she had been left. Wishing she were home, clean and safe to cry and scream out the unfairness. The streets of L.A. were like her backyard she knew everyone of them; New York was a confusing puzzle. Her head was pounding and she wandered for a few minutes searching for something familiar and praying no one saw her. Lost, with tears of pain streaming down her face she stopped at a corner and briefly looked up; across the street was a motel. It looked like a place a tourist would stay when they couldn't afford anything else. She reached up and pulled the pony tail holder from her hair grimacing and tried to cover the bloodied bruise on her face as best she could and crossed the street. Her credit card and ID were still in her pocket; head down she checked into the motel and fell into the bed, knowing that it would only be minutes before the FBI found her.

It took more than hour, and Ryan found her first, bursting into the room like a tornado screaming her name. He fell on the floor beside the bed crying as if she were dead until she let out a startled scream trying to pull away from him in fear until she realized who was holding her then she clung to him not caring about the pain while he dialed 911 with one hand.

The FBI fifth column task force found him holding her bleeding beaten body against his own less than five minutes later.

For the first time in over fifteen years Criss found herself on the front page of the newspaper. Her miraculous return. The hideous note left by the fifth column and then of course the outrageous ransom paid by Ryan and Matthew to get her back.

The questions by the FBI had been exhausting. Over and over they asked her the same questions in every way possible until finally she had Ryan call her lawyer. Afraid she would slip and change her story; afraid she would endanger Ryan's life before she could tell him what had happened.

The hospital bed sucked, the food sucked, the broken ribs sucked, the swollen eye sucked. "Am I really thirty-seven?" She asked and Ryan turned from the window to look at her.

"What?"

"I'm just laughing at myself that I could think the word 'suck' so many times in less than thirty seconds and be above the age of sixteen."

"You think this is funny?" He asked rolling his eyes and turning away from her.

She leaned her head to the side and looked at him. "Which part? The part that your thirty-seven-year-old wife thinks like a sixteen-year-old or the fact that I am actually thirty-seven. The first part yes, the latter not so much."

He let out a sigh and slapped his palm against the window. "You could have been killed. Why did you go out?"

"Pardon me?" She tried to hide the humor she felt in the shock at his temper tantrum.

"You were in the bath tub." He turned to explain, walking over to the bed. "You should have stayed in the room."

"Yeah? So now I am five and need a babysitter? Well you were an asshole and I went out because I was pissed off. So technically this is all your fault."

Ryan looked so hurt at her words that she wished she could take them back. She turned away. "I hurt Ryan. I'm sorry. Is George coming?" A tear slipped down her cheek and Ryan reached to brush it away, knowing there was more she wanted to say.

"Yeah. He said he would come." Ryan smiled when she looked back at him. "Tell me." He whispered, the same words they had both used in the past to get the other to share the horrors they had faced, so that they would not feel alone.

She gave a bare shake of her head and then took his hand. "You sure he is coming?" She asked and waited for him to nod. "Do you believe it really was the fifth column that took me?" She asked and waited until he looked at her.

"No Criss I don't. I don't believe the fifth column would do that unless there is a different one. Whoever this group is, they are not the people the people we know."

"You know the fifth column?"

Criss and Ryan jumped turning to see Agent Erica Evans standing in the doorway of her hospital room. "It is not a secret Agent Evans." Criss said. "That a group calling themselves the fifth column within the Visitors twenty years ago helped us to defeat them, and helped me to return to Earth."

"It is not the same group that you are fighting." Ryan let out a sigh. "They were visitors. The kind of people you don't get to meet everyday."

"Yet they used the same title." The tall blond woman stepped into the room.

"If you have questions, I have asked you to address my attorney." Criss said after staring at the woman curiously for a moment. Then noticing a figure in the doorway Criss broke into a huge smile.

"Excuse me." The male voice startled Erica Evans and she stepped aside for the blond man in the doctor's coat. "I need to see my patient."

"George!" Criss squealed holding out her arms. "Thank God. Get me the hell out of here!"

Ryan groaned and rolled his eyes stepping away from the bed so George could return Criss' hug. "Here we go. What is wrong with this hospital?" He asked smiling playfully at Criss.

"The food.." Criss started.

"Sucks." Ryan and George finished for her.

She glared at them. "Get me out of here or I will leave on my own."

"Agent Evans is there a way you could force her to stay in this bed?" Ryan asked.

"She is a witness to a crime. I could provide protective custody."

"You think the FBI could hold on to her?" George asked Ryan smiling playfully and then winced when Criss pinched his arm.

"Man, I would hate to have to visit my wife in federal prison for assaulting an FBI agent." Ryan shook his head. "You are probably right. Check her out. I will go arrange transportation. But Criss if George says you can't fly then we stay in New York Okay?"

"As long as I am with you and not in here." Criss agreed.

Agent Evans looked at the people in the room. "You are kidding right?" They all stopped to look at her. "She has multiple fractures, a concussion and possible internal injuries; you can't take her out of the hospital that would be just plain stupid."

"I don't stay in hospitals. The very fact that I allowed your people to bring me here should make you feel honored Agent Evans." Criss said. "I am leaving the hospital."

"Let us assign a protection detail." Agent Evans shook her head but admitting defeat.

"You can come but no one else."

"Why me?"

"You, for some reason I trust." Criss met the woman's gaze for a moment. Only two weeks earlier Criss had watched the news cast where the woman herself had been held captive by the so called Fifth Column.

"Criss." George forced her to look away from Erica so he could see the contusion on the side of her face. He whistled through his teeth and shook his head. "You are not flying until I am sure this concussion is safe."

"Good I already booked a suite." Ryan stepped back into the room a clipboard and a pen in his hand. He dropped them on Criss' lap and turned to dig clothes out of a bag. "Come on you two. George you will join us for a few days wont you?"

"The way Criss asked I can't refuse." He smiled

"Who is driving the car?" Criss asked, pushing back the blankets and accepting the pile of clothes. She started to dress and then glared at Erica and George until they turned around.

"I am." Ryan answered, helping her dress

"Good." She dropped a kiss on his cheek. "Agent Evans, you should join us for dinner. But I want some time to catch up with an old friend you can follow us to the hotel in you own car."

"So why did you dismiss the cop Criss?" Ryan asked once they were all safely in the car. He watched for traffic and slowly pulled out. Criss snuggled up next to him.

"You can't react." She whispered only loud enough for the three of them. "We are being watched very carefully and if I tell you they are going to kill you."

Ryan let out a sigh. "But we paid the ransom."

"They don't need money Ryan." She squeezed his arm. "Promise me no reaction."

"Okay calm as a cucumber."

"Okay and George you?"

"Alright I am calm."

"They are the Visitors Ryan. I was kidnapped but not by fifth column by them. Anna is Diana's daughter. Diana is not dead." Ryan tensed under her cheek. "No reaction."

"Oh God Criss you are not still on this. Diana is dead you killed her we watched the whole thing on TV. They don't even have the same color of blood."

George leaned forward and pretended to point out a sight. "Listen very carefully Ryan. I delivered Anna, though that was not her name then. I did not know that Diana was alive but I feared as much."

"They bleed red. They gave us DNA." Ryan whispered.

"And we all want miracles." Criss returned, clinging to his arm.

"I sent you to them." He kissed Criss' head. "I told you to go and be nice. I wasn't even very nice about it. I am so sorry."

She laughed. "I was afraid you would wreck the car and all you can think of is you sent me into a meeting with them?" She snuggled closer. "Diana is a prisoner on the ship. Anna wanted to brag about taking over. My beating was a warning not to tell." She looked up at Ryan. "She said she would kill you."

Ryan pulled the car into the circle drive of the hotel and then leaned down to kiss her. The kiss lingered until George cleared his throat from the open door in the back seat. "Are you two staying in the car all night? The press is enjoying the photo op."

Criss broke the kiss. "I need a shower before dinner with the cop."

"Why the cop?" Ryan asked.

"Cuz she is one of us."

"How do you know?"

Criss shrugged sliding from the car and then blinking from the sudden flashes of cameras. George put an arm on her shoulder as she tried to smile and Ryan rushed around the car to wrap his arm around her waist Criss tried to smile and wave but was sure it came out pretty pathetic. "I just know." She said finally turning her face into Ryan's shoulder and trusting him to guide her into the hotel and to their rooms.

"I got you a present." Ryan said when Criss came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"Really?"

He held up a phone with a pink bow tied around it. "Seems your last one was smashed when you hung up on me."

"I didn't hang up on you. You hung up on me."

He shook his head. "I was still talking. I wouldn't do that." He sighed again his shoulders dropping. "Seems we were set up by our own faults. They know you Criss."

"I can get a bit hot headed."

"It is part of your charm." He smiled pulling her slowly to him. "So now we are in the thick of things again." He leaned down to kiss her. "And it is you getting your ass kicked." He kissed her nose. "again."

"You just couldn't resist that one could you?" She smiled at him and pinched his arm until he grimaced. "Did I tell you it took four of them though? And that I took one of them out completely? With the cool spiky heel of my boot; that's why you found me barefoot."

"No DNA."

"I kicked him in the eye."

"Ewww gross. You may have ruined my dinner." He smiled at her. "But I knew you still had it in you."

"Damn but I'm old."

"Never baby." He pushed her away a bit. "Get dressed and I am gonna get you one of those ibuprofen the doctor gave you cause in a few minutes you are gonna hurt."

"Thanks for reminding me." She grimaced

The restaurant was expensive enough that no one bothered the small group as they sat. Agent Evans had mistakenly taken her invitation to be as guard duty until Criss had pulled out a chair for her and explained that dinner meant dinner. "Agent Evans, I am glad you were able to join us this evening. How long have you been working for the FBI?" George asked.

"Most of my adult life." She replied. "You can call me Erica. I feel underdressed for this."

Criss laughed looking at her own jeans and button front shirt. "Hmm. Welcome to my world. Matthew has spent my entire life trying to make me a lady. He is just grateful I don't wear a bikini to the table anymore."

"That is one habit I wish he hadn't broken you of." Ryan let out a sad a sigh.

"You will get used to it." George said to agent Evans in a mock whisper. "They have behaved this way since they were teenagers. I doubt they will ever grow out of it."

Criss smiled at Ryan and winked. "I hope not."

"Man, me too. I am too old to look for a new girlfriend now." Ryan shook his head.

Criss shrugged. "But you are rich and good looking it wouldn't be too hard." She pointed out.

"Yeah but to do that I would have to get rid of my wife," he reached over to take her hand and gently rubbed at the bruise on her cheek. "She is beautiful, jealous, and packs a mean left hook. I wouldn't want to piss her off."

Criss smiled. "Sounds like someone I might like to meet." She let out a laugh, and turned back to Erica. "I watched your brave escape on the news last week. Seems we have something in common. Why do you suppose they targeted us?"

"I can't discuss an open investigation."

"Really?" Criss shrugged. "But I thought you wanted to know everything there was to know about the fifth column?"

George choked on his water spewing droplets all over the table cloth. "Criss are you feeling alright? What kind of pain medication did that doctor give you?" He asked after he had gotten his breath.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to see if agent Evans actually believes I was taken by the fifth column?" Criss looked back at Erica.

"Are you asking me or telling me Mrs. Matcliff?"

"Dallion." Criss replied. "My married name is Dallion. The company was my dad's. But I took Ryan's name when we married. But you can call me Criss. And I am telling you, Erica. Let's get ice cream."

"Oh Lord." Ryan rolled his eyes. "Criss you are not getting ice cream." Criss looked at him and literally stuck out her lip and pouted. "It won't work you know you can't eat ice cream."

"I got my ass kicked. I deserve chocolate ice cream. Two bites you eat the rest."

"What so you can be sick all night?"

She let out a heavy sigh, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "The one food I miss the most."

"Yesterday it was coffee."

"Latte." She corrected.

Erica looked to George for an interpretation of the conversation. "I feel as though I am watching a foreign film only the characters are speaking English. I still do not understand."

"While incarcerated on the mother-ship fifteen years ago Christien was poisoned. The lasting effect of the poison was intolerance to dairy products. An intolerance she has tested regularly over the last fifteen years with every known aid to no positive outcome. Still she tries." George explained. Criss gave him a pained expression and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I remember this being easier." Criss whispered.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"The healing part. I want to go back to the room and take more than that ibuprofen stuff." She started to stand and found the room spinning. "Oh crap."

"I will assign a guard." Erica stood watching as Ryan helped to steady Christien.

"That won't be necessary. We have taken care of it already." Ryan responded.

"Private guards are not the way to handle this."

Having regained her balance Criss smiled at the FBI agent. "We will see you again I am sure. You and I both know who is responsible for my abduction and beating." Criss laid a hand on Erica's arm. "I can take care of myself. I have been doing so since I was fifteen. And what I can't see I have others who can."

The hotel room was full of light and Matthew when they returned. "Have a nice dinner with the FBI?" He asked glaring at Criss.

"Relax she is one of us." Ryan smiled.

"How do you know?" Matthew asked.

Ryan shrugged. "Criss said she is."

Matthew raised his eyebrow. He rose from the small sofa and walked over to Criss and looked her over. After reassuring himself that she was going to be okay he closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath and then pulled her against his chest. "You said no more of this." He whispered.

"Yes, and we thought they were gone." She whispered back.

"I am sorry I didn't believe you."

"Apparently Ryan has filled you in." She smiled when he released her and he reached to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks. He nodded. "While you were resting. What do you want me to do?"

"Hide me under your coat and make it all go away?" She whispered, new tears building on her lower lashes. Ryan turned from where he was standing looking out the window to stare at her. "You did that once."

"I remember." Matthew smiled. "But maybe things would be different if I had not." He pulled her face to his shoulder again and let her cling to him for a moment. "Do you wish them different?" He whispered. She took a shuddering breath. He waited for her answer and then allowed her to pull away.

Criss met Ryan's eyes from where she stood and slowly shook her head. "Not all of them." She whispered. Ryan's smile reached his green eyes even as the first tear slid down his cheek.

Matthew nodded. "Then tell me what to do."

"I assume Anna wanted Matcliff Corp in order to get close to the fifth column or what is left of them." Criss looked at George and then at Matthew. "I need a current contact. A real contact. Not a fake wanna be. So who can help me?"

"I brought us some one who could help." The heavy English accent made the rest of the group look up as Hobbs descended the steps.

Criss and Ryan followed a few steps behind and entered the basement room and smiled at a familiar face.

"Told you so." Criss said smiling.

"There'll be no living with her now." Ryan replied looking into the stunned face of FBI agent Erica Evans.

"Hobbs what's going on?"

"You said strike now and strike hard. Well I am." He said. "They have fought them before and they came looking for us."

"Trust me I really don't want to do this again." Criss said. "But at least this time I know how to fire a gun and how to kill them before I actually have to."

"What can you offer?" Erica asked.

Criss rolled her eyes. "Besides my bankroll? Matcliff scientist have shown that the red rain as they called it cleaned the rest of the remaining red dust bacteria from the Earth's surface, along with what ever chemicals they were adding for reproduction. A giant incubator. They could not save their own planet; it died with their leader, so they are taking ours. It took them fifteen years to regroup but it only took us fifteen to forget." Criss met Erica's gaze. "I knew you the moment I saw you wave that cell phone out the window of that building."

"Well I only know you from an odd dinner and magazine articles so don't expect much." She turned away when a thump came from the stairway followed by a reckless set of feet. Erica had her gun in her hand pointed at the stairs.

"Aunty Crissy I have something for you."

Criss rolled her eyes and put her hand over Erica's pushing down the gun. "He is with me." She tried to smile but it came out as a small grimace. "C get down here and stop pissing off the FBI."

The boy appeared on the steps no more than fourteen years old a laptop open in his arms, his glasses slipping down his nose and his sandy brown hair flopping around his head in true surfer boy fashion. Christian was a contradiction in teenagers, half nerd computer expert and half cool surfer jock. Criss let out a sigh, and all irritating, there was no way that either she or his mother Mandy had been this irritating when they were his age. Well maybe Mandy, Criss smiled, her best friend and permanent partner in crime had elected to stay in LA with her family and see what she could devise there to help the silent resistance. But, she had let Criss steal Christian a computer expert and one of the best Criss had ever known at breaking and entering, of course he had the best teacher, his namesake "Agent Evans, this is Christian, the best computer geek under the age of twenty in the world."

"Call me C, everyone does" He gave a lopsided grin and balancing his computer in one hand held out the other to shake.


End file.
